Never Run Away
by iamAnnabethJackson
Summary: What should have happened when Annabeth called Percy a coward. Takes place during The Last Olympian book 5.
1. Chapter 1

"We'll just have to be ready."

"How?" I said. "Look at our camp. We can't even stop fighting each other. And I'm supposed to get my stupid soul reaped."

She threw down her scroll. "I knew we shouldn't have shown you the prophecy." Her voice was angry and hurt. "All it did was scare you. You run away from things when you're scared."

I stared at her, completely stunned. "_Me?_ Run away?"

She got right in my face. "Yes, you. You're a coward, Percy Jackson!"

I grab her shoulders. "What did you just call me?"

Annabeth holds her ground. "You heard me." She snaps.

"You have 10 seconds to take that back."

"Or what?"

The sound of her voice saying my name and the word coward in the same sentence is still ringing in my ears when, I grab her face in my hands and kiss her. She kisses me back but I'm so angry I don't have time to enjoy it before we pull away gasping for air.

She looks down at the ground avoiding my eyes.

"Annabeth," I say. she still doesn't look at me.

I tilt her face up to mine. "Annabeth." I say again. "You can call me stupid, and you can call me seaweed brain, but you _can't_ call me a coward."

Then I walk away still wanting to be mad, but not being able to shake the felling of kissing her.

"Percy!" Annabeth calls. "Wait, I'm sorry!"

I keep walking. Cowards turn back, hero's keep going.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey! Sorry it took so long to update! I guess I was in so much shock from all the good reviews, I got some writer's block or something. Idk but I hope you like this!

Chapter 2- Annabeth's POV (This is before the 1st chapter. It starts when Annabeth and Percy enter Athena's cabin for inspection. [page 46] Sorry this gets really specific. Hope you've read the book:)

Finally we got to athena's cabin, wish was orderly and clean as usual. Books were straightened on the shelves. the armor was polished. battle maps and blueprints decorated the walls. Only my bunk was messy. it was covered in papers, and my silver laptopl was still running.

"_Vlacas,"_ I muttered, which is basically calling myself an idiot in Greek.

My second-in-command, Malcolm, suppressed a smile. "Yeah, um...we cleaned everything else. Didn't know if it was safe to move your notes."

"Smart boy," I say, sarcastically.

Malcom grinned at Percy. "We'll wait outside while you finish inspection." The Athena campers filed out the door while I scrambled to clean up my bunk.

I hurried as fast as I could trying not to think about the fact that, even on inspection, it was against camp rules for 2 campers to be...like, _alone_ in a cabin. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Percy shuffle through papers uneasily, probably thinking the same thing. I straightened up and closed the laptop the Daedalus gave me last summer.

Percy cleared his throat. "So...get any good info from that thing?"

"Too much," I said. "Daedalus had so many ideas, I could spend fifty years just trying to figure them all out."

"Yeah," he muttered. "That would be fun."

I resist the urge to look up at his expression to see what he meant by that, but shuffle some of my papers instead. _Now's the time. _I tell myself. _Now is the perfect time. _

I glance over some of my drawings and swallow back some interesting facts about angles because if I start talking about my anything related to architecture I'll never be able to _stop_ talking and Percy won't be listening anyway. I take a mental deep breath, and begin.

"You know..." I brush a loose strand of hair behind my ear, like i do when I'm nervous. "This whole thing with Beckendorf and Silena. It kind of makes you think. About...what's important. About losing people who are important."

_Please understand what I'm getting at, please understand. _

Of course he doesn't.

"Um, yeah," he stammered. "Like...is everything cool with your family?"

Really, Percy? Really? Ok he really does have a brain full of seaweed.

But all I do is nod and put on my disapointed face, to keep from screaming at him.

"My dad wanted to take me to Greece this summer," I said wistfully. "I've always wanted to see-"

"The Parthenon," he remembered.

I managed a smile. "Yeah."

"That's okay. There'll be other summers, right?"

Sometimes I really wonder what goes on in that boy's mind. I stare at my scroll. "Three out of five," I mutter. "for a sloppy head counselor. Come on. Let's finish your reports and get back to Chiron."

On the way to the Big house Percy stops me by the tetherball court. _Maybe he finally got what I was trying to say..._

"Annabeth... Listen, I...I had this dream about, um, Rachel..."

It took every bit of willpower not to punch him in the face. But I let him tell me his whole story.

For a while I didn't say anything. Trying to process what he said, and the fact that it had to do with "Rachel the stupid mortal". I rolled up my inspection scroll so tight i ripped it. "What do you want me to say?"

"I'm not sure. You're the best strategist I know. If you were Kronons planning this war, what would you do next?"

"I'd use Typhon as a distraction. Then I'd hit Olympus directly, while the gods were in the West."

"Just like in Rachel's picture."

"Percy," I said, my voice tight, "Rachel is just a mortal." _A stupid mortal who gets in everybodys way..._

"But what if her dream is true? Those other Titans- they said Olympus would be destroyed in a matter of days. They said they had plenty of other challenges. And what's with that picture of Luke as a kid-"

"We'll just have to be ready."

"How?" he said. "Look at our camp. We can't even stop fighting each other. And I'm supposed to get my stupid soul reaped."

Ok that's it. I threw down my scroll. "I knew we shouldn't have shown you the prophecy!" I said, sounding angry and hurt. "All it did was scare you. You run away from things when you're scared."

He stared at me, completely stunned. "_Me?_ Run away?"

I got right in his face. "Yes, you. You're a coward, Percy Jackson!"

The look on his face was priceless. A combination of shock and hurt. Perfect. Just what he needs. And his eyes...his green eyes...

He grabs my shoulders. "What did you just call me?"

I stand my ground, trying not to get distracted. "You heard me."

"You have 10 seconds to take that back,"

I almost start laughing. "Or what?"

And then the most wonderful thing in the world happens. He kisses me, and I completly forget that I was ever mad at him. I forget my worries about Rachel. All I can think about is him. His shaggy dark hair and sea green eyes. The way he charges into danger with his sword. And the way he is completly oblivious to the fact that he is all I can ever seem to think about.

When we pull away, I avoid his eyes. I stare at the ground and hope he has forgotten the fact that I called him a coward.

"Annabeth," he says. I stare at his untied shoe lace. "Annabeth," he says again. Time he puts a finger under my chin and tilts my face up to his. Part of me wishes we didn't have to talk about what just happened, and that he would just kiss me again. Of course, I didn't get my wish."

He gives me a hard stare and says "You can call me seaweed brain, and you can call me stupid, but you can _not_ call me a coward."

Before I can answer, he drops his hand, turns around, and walks away.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Annabeth POV

"Percy wait! I'm sorry!" I yell after him. Its no use. He keeps walking, til he reaches a tether ball, then punches it as hard as he can. It goes spiraling out of control and the chord looks in danger of coming off the pole. That's when the realization comes crashing down on me. Percy Jackson, the most powerful demigod in the world, is mad at me. He's never been mad at me before. In fact he rarely ever even _gets_ mad. I'm surprised he didn't shoot water at me or pull out his sword or something. Calling a demigod a coward-not a good idea. Suddenly standing is a whole lot harder than 10 seconds ago and I have to sit down on the ground. My head starts to hurt and I swallow back tears.

_Why did I say that? Why? _The question bounces back and forth in my mind. _Why do I always have to take it one step further? Why can't I let things go? _

I sit there by the tetherball courts, feeling like the ball Percy punched.

That afternoon we had an assembly at the campfire to burn Beckendorf's burial shroud and say our good-byes. I hoped Beckendorf's spirit ended up in Elysium. Maybe he'd even choose to be reborn and try for Elysium in 3 different lifetimes so he could reach the Isles of the Blest. If anyone deserved it, Beckendorf did.

I was about to leave with the other campers when I noticed Percy, staring at the dying fire. He went over and talked to Silena, probably apologizing or something. Like a good person. Unlike me. Then I notice him arguing with Clarisse.

"If you want my help so bad, tell Apollo to give us the chariot!"

"You're such a big baby."

Clarisse charged, but I ran up and got in between them. "Woah, Guys," I said. "Clairsse, you know he's right."

Percy glares at me. "Stay out of this Annabeth,"

"Yeah, Annabeth. This isn't your fight. Besides, you're always sticking up for your _boyfriend."_

This time Percy charged. He shoved me away and knocked over Clarisse.

"Percy, stop!" I say. She struggles to get up but Percy punches her in the face. Finally Chris comes and breaks up the fight. Or more like drags Percy away from Clarisse. He's kicking and screaming curses at her. I've never seen Percy like this. _What have I done?_ I think.

I don't stick around to see how bad Clarisse is hurt. Or to see when Percy calms down. Instead I run away (like a coward) back to my cabin.

I don't go to dinner. I just sit curled up on my bed trying not to cry. When Malcolm asks if I'm coming, I tell him I'm not hungry and I'm that i wasn't feeling too well. He doesn't pry to much and probably atributes my behaivor to Beckendorf's death.

While I'm wallowing in my dispair, I try to come up with a plan to apologize to Percy. But i don't know how. How could I possibly say I'm sorry to everything I've done? I tried to apologize, but not really. I had to go talk to him. That's when I decide what to do. Tonight, I was going to have to visit Cabin 3.


	4. Chapter 4

****** Sorry it's been so long but 8th grade is freaking crazy and i'm super busy. but here is chapter 4. It's a little cheesy at the end, but I couldn't think of anything else. And also the apology will be my next chapter (I know alot of you are waiting for that...so am I!) so I will definitly try to work on that. Oh and by the way...Kickin'ItWithNinjaYoshi is my new AWESOME editor...since i can't spell and or use grammer. **

After my fight with Clarisse, I totally lost it. If its even possible to "lose it" even more than I already had. As soon as Chris let go of me, I took off like an out of control storm system towards the sword fighting arena. It's one of the few places I can actually think. Normally I would have jumped in the lake, but I also needed to take my anger out on something. The second I get there, I whip out my sword and start demolishing the dummies. Stabbing, slicing, and decapitating one after the other. I'm so distracted I don't hear someone come in-that is, until they're right next to me.

"Dude, are you okay?"

I spin around with my sword so fast I barely miss Nico's head after he ducks.

"Like I said, are you okay?" Nico asks, totally astonished that I almost beheaded him.

"Yeah I just…sorry. You startled me."

"That's ok. I've just never seen you so…mad." He says cautiously.

I look away from him and take a deep breath. "What do you want, Nico?"

"Oh right. Well you see I was just wondering if you'd decided about…my offer."

I sigh and put up Riptide. It was so risky, what he wanted me to do. But then again…who cares? Everybody's mad at me. I'm mad at myself. Does it really matter how I die?

"I'll do it."

Nico looked surprised. "Really?"

"Yes. I mean does it matter if I die in the Styx or fighting Kronos? I just don't care anymore."

"Um…yeah." Nico gave me one of those i-don't-know-where-this-is-coming-from-but-l'll-pretend-like-I-do looks. "So I was thinking we could leave tonight after everyone's asleep. That way people won't freak out 'til tomorrow."

I snickered under my breath and muttered "Like anyone would care if I left."

Nico gave me another look and said, "Well, I guess I'll see you at dinner…I have to go."

And he was out of there as quick as he came in.

I'm not sure why I even went to dinner that night. Oh yeah, I remember. I was hungry. But of course as soon as I get to the mess hall, Clarisse and her gang are there waiting to pounce on their prey.

"Look who actually showed up, everybody! The loser who hits girls!" Clarisse marched right up to me as soon as I got to my table. I noticed she had a white bandage on her nose, and her left eye didn't look too good, either. I decide to just ignore her, and hope that she'll go away. "Do you guys _really_ want a leader who punches girls? Who knows what he'll do when we go into battle."

I took out my pen. _Hold it together Percy. Hold it together…_

She laughed when she saw my pen. "Go ahead and hit me Percy."

Without thinking, I uncaped riptide and swung. Clarisse is just as fast and has her knife out in time to block. People started gathering around to watch the fight, which somehow fuels my anger even more. I swung again and aimed for her arm but her knife somehow blocked me again. She lunged forward and I had just enough time to parry before the knife went through my stomach.

"What is going on?" Chiron's bellowing voice asked angrily.

Distracted, Clarisse looked over at him on his spot at the front of the mess hall. I took my opportunity, and smacked the dagger out of her hand as hard as I could with my sword. She whipped her head around to stare at the knife that was now on the floor. Then she met my eyes. "You…you, you COWARD!"

Riptide was at her throat in 2 seconds flat.

"I thought I made this pretty clear earlier Clarisse. But like I said, you're. A big. Baby! Anybody who gets so mad over a stupid chariot, is a baby. And you know it."

She tries to reach for her knife, but I grab her shoulder and push her against a wall. "Now, I'm sorry I hit you today. That was wrong. 2 wrongs don't make a right, I know that. But you need to grow up. And as far as me leading this war…you think I want this? You think I want to have the weight of the world on my shoulders? I'm supposed to _die,_ Clarisse. Ok, die. That's kind of a big deal. So for my last few days, I would appreciate some respect."

I took Riptide off her throat and let her breathe. When she spoke again she said, "What do you want me to do?"

I looked her in the eye. "Help."

***** Hope you like it please review! :) **

**BTW i've been thinking of writing a fanfiction about Jason and Reyna...ya know, one of those stories that take place after the Argo II arrives at Camp Jupiter. I'm a total Jeyna shipper so I've had some ideas for how Reyna can react to seeing Jason with Piper...just some ideas. Let me know if that sounds interesting.**

**Clove is a ninja **

**(and a demigod)**

**peace out**


	5. Chapter 5

**Ok first off, I'd just like to thank all you awesome demigods who wrote really nice reviews. Especially the Guest who said that I made them cry…that really hit home**,** so thanks to whoever you are! And I'd like to thank KickinItWithNinjaYoshi (or just Yoshi), for being my wonderful editor! Anyways this is my next and most likely final chapter of Never Run Away. I'm not entirely sure yet it depends if you guys like it or not! (Lol, consumer sovereignty!)**

Chapter 5

Annabeth's POV

I pretended to be asleep when everyone came in after dinner, but the campers didn't try to be quiet.

"Did you see what he did?"

"Yeah I can't believe he actually took out his sword!"

"Unbelievable that guy…"

_Wait, what? Percy did WHAT now?_

Maybe going to see him wasn't such a good idea. What if he yelled at me to get the heck away from him? What if he destroyed the camp? What if he refused to help us in the war?

_And it's all my fault…_

No, I have to talk to him. And it has to be tonight.

I moved quickly and silently through the camp, past the other cabins and toward his. It felt like forever and the dry August air whipped around me, making me walk faster. And suddenly, I was at the door of his cabin feeling…scared.

_What if he hates me?_

_What if he does't accept my apology?_

_What if he hurts me?_

_No, that's stupid, _I told myself. _He wouldn't do that…now you're just being crazy._

Before I lost my nerve, I grabbed the door handle, and shoved the door open.

Percy's POV

Pacing. That's all I've done since I got back from the mess hall.

Pacing. Pacing back and forth.

Back and forth across the room. I couldn't think, I couldn't breathe. I'm nervous, I'm sick, I'm tired. I'm tired of being tired and confused and yelled at and….what was I saying?

I was scared. Annabeth was right. I'm not cut out for this. I'm not powerful enough. I was going to die. I stopped pacing and stood in the middle of my cabin, staring blankly at the door. Then it flew open.

Annabeth's POV

He stared at me. I open the door and there he is. Right there, staring at me with his mouth wide open. He doesn't look angry, he just looks surprised…and slightly confused. I step across the threshold and quickly close the door behind me. I heard it click shut.

"Wha-what are you doing here? Don't you know this is against the rules? Like, super against the rules! We could both get our fingers cut off or, or, public humiliation or something!" he suddenly exclaims. He's almost shouting.

Still, it takes me about a minute to process that he is talking to me. He's about 6 feet away, wearing his orange t-shirt and jeans, like he's all ready to go somewhere. Like he knew I was coming.

"What are you doing? Aren't you supposed to be asleep or something?" I say in the same tone-of-voice he used on me.

"You're standing in _my_ cabin, talking to _me_ in the middle of the night, and you're asking _me_ what _I'm_ doing? That doesn't even make any sense!"

"Why are you still awake?"

"Annabeth, _what _do you want? Did you come here to argue, because I am _not_ in the mood."

The anger that I felt towards him earlier today somehow pushes past all the guilt and comes out. "Look, I didn't come here to get reprimanded. Yes I knew what I was risking sneaking out and coming here and I don't appreciate the way you're treating me!"

Percy takes and step back confused and hurt all over again.

"The way _I'm_ treating you? He pointed a finger at me. "Let's get one thing straight here. You're the one who started calling me names because I'm apparently too stupid to take a hint, and when I _did_ make a move on you, you expect me to come running back saying, "It's okay Annabeth. Everything's okay. It doesn't matter what you say to me because I love you." And then you have the nerve to come _my _cabin, probably thinking you're going to apologize, when you can't even swallow your pride long enough to admit your wrong and say 'I'm sorry.'"

I take a few steps towards him. "You never even gave me a chance _to_ apologize! I'm the one trying to do the right thing here and you're-"

He comes closer too, anger flashing in his eyes. "What? I'm doing what? I never did anything to you, Annabeth! I thought you were my friend but apparently that isn't good enough for you!"

"That's not true!" we're inches apart now, seething in each other's faces. "If you think that, you don't know _anything_ about me!"

"Oh yeah?"

And then, I don't even know what happens. The world is a lost cause for all I know and we are swept into oblivion. We seem to lean in at the same time not realizing it and then he kissed me. His hands wrapped around my waist and I put my arms around his neck. We pull each other closer. I don't understand what's happening. I thought he was angry. I thought_ I_ was angry, but it doesn't matter now. Whatever it was, it's gone, blown away with the rest of the crumbling universe. It is only me and him. And it's wonderful.

When he pulls away from me and leans he forehead against mine, I ask "Does this mean you forgive me?"

He doesn't answer me. Instead his lips come down on mine again and I can't breathe. The air is forced out of me and I feel like I'm cracking under pressure. I push him away and gasp. I'm not used to this. "Percy," I breathe.

He lets go of me and stands back, embarrassed. "I'm sorry; I just…can't fight you anymore." He sounds tired and defeated.

"No, you're right. I should have just apologized." I step forward and hug him. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so, sorry."

Relief overwhelms me and I finally feel at peace-like a huge burden has been lifted off my shoulders. Tears threaten my eyes, but I push them away and swallow the lump in my throat. There's no need to cry now. I have him back and that's all that matters. It took me this long to realize how much I've missed him…how much I need him. He holds me tighter and I smell the ocean. Then his voice whispers in my ear, "Of course I forgive you."

**Sorry for any mistakes! Hope you like it and please review :)**

**Clove is a ninja**


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